Worship and Ritual in Modern Jewish Life

RELIG 210: Lecture 14

Holidays and Ritual Occasions

1. Pilgrimage Festivals

2. New Year Cycle

3. Commemorative Celebrations and Fasts

Commemorative Celebrations

• Mythic narrative remains central in yearly calendar

• Commemorate great moments and tragedies through rituals

Chanukah (Dedication)

• No reference in Hebrew Bible

• Victory of Maccabees over Syrian domination in 135BCE

• Rededicate the Temple

• Miracle of jar of oil added in Talmud

Menorah Latke-Fried Potato Pancake

Dreidel

Tu Bishvat

• Birthday of the Trees

• Mystical Significance

• Zionist Symbolism

• Environmental Holiday-Jewish Earth Day

Purim (Lots, Raffle)

• Book of Esther– Jews of Persia saved from destruction– Draws lots to determine day to kill Jews– Diaspora story– No mention of God

• Ritual– Read Scroll of Esther– Rowdy celebration

Commemorative Fasts

• 4 minor fast days– Daylight and full-day

• 3 connected to catastrophe of Temple’s destruction– Tisha B’Av-saddest day on the calendar

New Holidays

• Israel Independence Day

• Holocaust Memorial Day

Tradition and Change in Worship and Ritual

• Understand the diversity of ritual and worship in modern Judaism

• Focus on the role that gender and feminism play in sparking innovation and change

• Take a virtual tour of Jewish worship

Worship and Ritual in the Modern World

• Morning Amidah (pp.203-205)– Look at prayers 2,10,11,13,14,15,17– What might strike a modern Jew as

problematic? Why?

• Should the liturgy change, why or why not?

• What changes (if any) would you implement?

To Change or Not to Change?

• Liturgy is at the core of Jewish life

• Transforming liturgy would…

• Maintaining liturgy would…

• What are other options?

All Modern Movements Respond To…

• Social Factors

• Intellectual Factors

• Aesthetic Factors

• Technological Factors

• Cultural Norms

Reform Movement

• Reconfigure prayer and ritual to meet new criteria– Music– Decorum (seating)– Language– Meaning– Political Status

• Read “Rationale of Reform” (p.209)

Remu Synagoge, Krakow, Poland

Great Synagogue-Budapest

Changes in Liturgy and Ritual

• How does the Reform Amidah differ from rabbinic liturgy?

• What are the major additions, deletions, changes?

Orthodox Movement

• Aesthetic Changes

• Addition of vernacular sermon

• Cantorial music

• Gender roles constant--to some extent

• Art Scroll and English language

The Conservative Movement

• Minor liturgical changes

• Adopted many aesthetic, cultural changes

Women, Feminism, and the Transformation of Judaism

• Women in Rabbinic Judaism– Scripture and Tradition– Theology– Authority– Worship and Ritual

• Debates about gender role sparks innovation and division

Three Major Influences

• Liturgical Innovations

• Leadership and community

• Ritual and Music

Liturgical Innovations

• Is God a “He” or a “She”

• Marcia Falk on God language

“Praised are You (masc), Lord our God, King of the universe whose mitzvot add holiness to our lives, cherishing us through the gift of His holy Shabbat granted lovingly, gladly, a reminder of Creation…Thus You have chose us, endowing us with holiness, from among all peoples by granting us your holy Shabbat lovingly and gladly. Praised are You (masc) who hallows Shabbat”

“Let us bless the source of life that ripens fruit on the vine as we hallow the seventh day--the Sabbath day--in remembrance of creation, for the Sabbath is first among holy days, recalling the exodus and the covenant.”

Women in Leadership

• When was the first woman rabbi ordained?

• How have women rabbis effected authority and communal structures?

• Across denominations

Women and Worship

• Dvorah’s Song and Miriam’s Song

• Source: Judge 4:12

Arise, arise Devorah.

Arise, arise, and sing a song.

Arise, arise, Devorah.

Devorah, the prophet, was a judge in Israel/ She sat beneath her palm tree on a hill, and people came form everywhere just to hear her judgments honest and fair. Devorah, the prophet, Devorah a mother in Israel.

The Healing Prayer (Mi Sheiberach)

• “He who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon, may He bless and heal the sick person … son of… because <name> will contribute to charity on his behalf. In reward for this, may the Holy One, Blessed is He, be filled with compassion for him to restore him to health, to heal him, to strengthen him, and to revivify him. And may he send him speedily a complete recovery from heaven…”

Shlomo Carlebach

Yotzer Or Blessing

• First blessing before the Shema• “Master of light and Creator of Darkness,

who ordains peace and fashions all things, cause a new light to shine upon Zion, and may we all be worthy to delight in its splendor”